Arianespace Soyuz flight VS14 countdown back on

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Daniel

Our colleagues at Arianespace have just posted an update confirming that the launch countdown for Soyuz VS14 is back on for tonight. Here’s the full text.

Arianespace Flight VS14: Soyuz – Sentinel-1B – Microscope – Fly Your Satellite! Resumption of the launch chronology

With the successful completion of operations to replace the Soyuz launcher’s inertial system that experienced a technical fault – along with the associated checks – Arianespace has decided to resume the launch chronology.

In the gantry. (ESA–Manuel Pedoussaut, 2016)

Flight VS14 will orbit the Sentinel-1B satellite for the Copernicus program, on behalf of the European Commission and within the framework of a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). Also to be orbited on the mission are the French CNES space agency’s Microscope satellite, and three CubeSats for the ESA Education and Knowledge Management Office’s Fly Your Satellite! program.

Liftoff of the Soyuz launcher is planned for Monday, April 25, 2016, at the precise moment of:

• 06:02:13 p.m., (Local time in French Guiana)


• 05:02:13 p.m., (in Washington, D.C.)


• 09:02:13 p.m., (UTC)


• 11:02:13 p.m., (in Paris)


• 00:02:13 a.m., (in Moscow) on 26 April

Source ESA blog